


Sewers

by Blizzardshock



Series: Survive the Siege [1]
Category: Creepypasta - Fandom
Genre: Cheap Horror, Dissociation, Gen, Graphic Description of Corpses, Graphic Description of Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:54:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27013096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blizzardshock/pseuds/Blizzardshock
Summary: In this universe, the immortal Creepypastas run wild, and people have adjusted accordingly.  There are alerts and procedures in place to deal with the more dangerous and active ones, but as always, sometimes things go wrong.A highschool party held in the sewers, unsurprisingly, gets attacked.  Two girls have to find a way out without running into Jeff the Killer, who is stalking them and everyone else in the maze.
Series: Survive the Siege [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1971436
Kudos: 6





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> It's Halloween month. I'm in the mood for dumb slasher flicks (or fics!) and have decided to write one of my own. This is going to be cheesy and gory and hopefully all the good things a bad horror movie delivers.

Rachel woke up to her alarm clock going off, with the most important thing on her mind being getting her shower over with quick enough to ensure her brother didn’t eat all the Pop Tarts before she could get any.

It was a real challenge, and one that she couldn’t meet that day. Instead of the sugar she wanted, Rachel had to deal with eating plain Cheerios. She’d get her brother back for that later, she promised herself.

Rachel quickly packed her backpack and headed out the door, slinging it onto her shoulders as she walked for the bus stop. Her phone buzzed, and she glanced at it. The warning for the Pocket (whichever one that was) had been lifted, and the curfew reduced to 10. Nice, she supposed, although she knew she could expect that every class period was going to get a mandatory “just because we have no active warning” speech like they always did after an alert was lifted.

Frankly, she could do without the constant reminders that they lived in a world full of unkillable monsters and murderers. They weren’t children. They knew that by now.

“Hey! Rachel!”

Rachel tucked her phone back into her pocket as Harriet ran up to her.

“Heya Harriet,” Rachel greeted, smiling.

“Dude,” Harriet panted as she fell in step next to her friend, “the curfew’s moved again. You know what that means?”

Rachel was fairly certain she did, but she asked anyway, “What?”

“PARTY TIME!!!” Harriet yelled.

Of course. Any opportunity for a high-energy social gathering would see Harriet descending upon it like a hungry falcon. She lived for parties of any kind. Rachel didn’t quite share her friend’s enthusiasm for it, but she still tended to get dragged along anyway.

“The monster just left town, and you’ve already got a party lined up?” Rachel asked dryly.

Harriet huffed and rolled her eyes, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ears again.

“Who knows when the next one will appear, we need to party while we can, alright? Besides, this one is extra special. It’s in a hidden area. No one not invited will be able to find it!”

“Was I actually invited?” Rachel asked.

Harriet tossed an arm over her shoulder and said, “You’re my plus one. C’mon, it’ll be fun! It starts at 6 PM, meet me outside the school before then, ‘kay?”

Rachel sighed but nodded. If she didn’t agree, Harriet would drive her insane with nagging. And it wasn’t like she couldn’t just leave early if she really wanted, Harriet was good about that. They reached the bus stop right as the bus pulled up, and both clambered on, putting their respective earbuds in to block out the noise from the other students.

The school day went exactly like Rachel knew it would. The teachers were cautious, and warned every single class every single period about the dangers of relying solely on the alerts to protect themselves from the various predators wandering their world. There was very little actual teaching done. The day went by as an unremarkable blur of repeated words.

Once the final bell rang, Rachel packed up her stuff and hesitated. If she really wanted to, she could go out the back way and avoid Harriet altogether. It would hurt her friend’s feelings, but she would get over it and Rachel wouldn’t have to go to a party that was hidden away from adult authority, and consequently, help.

…

Oh, what the hell. She’d have Harriet, and it wasn’t like she had any other plans today.

Rachel walked outside the school, seeing Harriet bouncing on the balls of her feet as she waited. A broad smile spread over her face as Rachel approached.

“Yes!” she cried, punching her arm into the air, “I knew you wouldn’t abandon me! Now c’mon, you can drop off your stuff at my house.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Party

“That,” Rachel said blankly as she stared down the open manhole, “leads into the sewers.”

Harriet rolled her eyes.

“I know that. Where did you think this party was being held? Not many places are secret around here, ya know.”

Rachel had to concede that point, but it didn’t make her any happier about having to head into the sewer. Where were they even holding this party? The sewer system didn’t have any large open areas to her knowledge. Nevertheless, she followed her friend down, wondering if maybe she should have backed out.

The ladder was grimy, and if it weren’t for the headlamps Harriet had on her, the tunnel would have been pitch black. By the time they reached the bottom, Rachel was ready to climb back up the ladder, dragging Harriet behind her by the toes if she needed to.

“Harriet, I don’t like this,” she hissed, “we should go back. Just because there aren’t any active warnings doesn’t mean there’s nothing down here!”

“Rachel, I’m telling you, it’s fine. They’ve held this party down here for years and not once have they ever been attacked! I wouldn’t lead you to somewhere dangerous,” Harriet assured, her voice much louder than Rachel’s had been. “Now come on. We don’t wanna be late.”

Rachel let Harriet take her hand and lead her deeper into the sewers. She focused on memorizing the route back to the ladder. If something happened, they’d at least know the way out.

Her map-making was interrupted by the sudden realization that she could feel and hear a bass line. It rumbled in the floor, walls, and her ribcage. Rachel shot a look at Harriet, who beamed.

“We’re practically there, let’s go!”

Rachel… didn’t share her enthusiasm, but let herself get pulled into a gentle jog anyway. It made Harriet happy, and she still remembered the way out… and, awful as it was to think, a large group of people bettered their chances if something did happen. Other targets, and maybe enough people to put up a fight.

Harriet dragged her around another corner and laughed excitedly. Rachel flinched from the sudden influx of light and sound. Apparently the sewers did have an area large enough to host a party.  
It was all but impossible for Rachel to see much, as the multi-colored lights strobed over the writhing crowd, but she could tell there was a definite dance floor, a concessions table, and at least five smaller areas holding events of some kind. One was definitely Messy Twister.

“LET’S GO!!!!” Harriet shrieked in delight. Probably. Rachel couldn’t really hear her voice over the pounding speakers.

Harriet released Rachel’s hand and vanished into the dancing crowd. Rachel sighed and began making her way over to the tables, hoping there would be more than just alcohol served. There was a keg of water, but from the smell of it, it wasn’t to be trusted. Rachel sighed again and grabbed a plate of questionably fresh fruit instead.

There was a table of masks next to the food area. They were all neon colors that flashed in the lights. She looked away, wincing at the colored splotches burned into her eyes. The music was already giving her a headache. Why had she agreed to this?

“Hey.”

Rachel whirled around, barely stopping herself from slamming her plate into the person who had spoken in her ear. It was… well, she assumed it was a guy from the voice, but his face was covered by a solid rainbow mask and his body was hidden by a hoodie that had apparently been through the Twister game already, so she couldn’t be certain. The thick, long black hair shaggily framing his mask didn’t help.

“Sorry,” she almost yelled, “you startled me.”

“Don’t worry about it. You seemed really tense. Seem really tense. Do you wanna come with me to a quieter section? It won’t be silent, but it’ll get you away from the noise,” he said.

Rachel felt her shoulders tense up, then tried to relax them. It was just a proposition. No need to freak out. Even if the way the guy’s gruff, growly voice cut through the sound of the crowd made her hair stand on end.

“Raaaaacheeeel,” Harriet said, suddenly appearing out of nowhere to grab her by the arm and knock her plate to the ground, “don’t tell me you’re planning on staying over here in the corner the entire time! Come dance with me!”

Rachel looked at her friend, then looked at the guy. He shrugged. She suddenly wished she could see the eyes behind the mask, but the lights made that impossible.

“Go have fun with your friend,” he said, and a chill ran down Rachel’s spine, “We can find each other later.”

Harriet pulled Rachel onto the dancefloor and began dancing just close enough to her that they could properly talk.

“Soooo, who was the mystery guy?” Harriet asked with a sly grin.

“I honestly don’t know. He just walked up to me and asked if I wanted to go to a “quieter section” with him,” Rachel said.

“I heard those air quotes,” Harriet snickered, “Only been here five minutes and you’ve already got a man, I’m impressed!”

Rachel rolled her eyes and knocked her hip against Harriet’s, saying, “Hardly. He kinda creeped me out, honestly.”

“I know. Me too. Why do you think I interrupted?” Harriet said, voice almost lost to the music. She looked at Rachel, and her smile returned. “Oh come on, don’t let one creep ruin your night! You probably won’t see him again, this is a really big party.”

“You’re right,” Rachel said, although fear still gnawed at her stomach.

They danced for a little bit longer before Rachel glanced over and saw that the Twister area was getting a rinse down and refill.

“Hey, let’s go play Twister!” she yelled, and dragged Harriet behind her as she ran over to one of the free sections.

Harriet cracked her knuckles as someone grabbed the spinner for them. Rachel tossed her head dramatically, flipping her hair in challenge.

Messy Twister, as it turned out, was a lot harder than it looked. Their hands slid everywhere and their feet were no better, resulting in bright splashes of paint all over their shirts and jeans. Rachel had won three out of the four matches they played, and mentally thanked her mother for the gymnastics lessons she had been forced into taking.

They were both rinsed themselves off with a pair of labelless bottles of water and headed back for the food table. The fruit she had dropped earlier was still there, but the masked guy was gone.

“Soooooo, are you having fun?” Harriet asked, grinning.

Rachel sighed dramatically and nodded, although her smile ruined the effect.

“Told you, this was a good idea. We’re having fun, relieving some stress, and even got some cool tie-dye clothes out of it!” Harriet exclaimed, stretching out her still very painted shirt to show off the streaks of color still on it.

Rachel laughed, and was about to ask if Harriet wanted to head over to the beer-pong tables when the music suddenly cut out. Everyone turned to look at the stage where the DJ was. An older man grabbed the microphone, looking pale.

“Attention everyone, you all need to leave immediately.”

Confused, angry murmuring broke out amongst the crowd.

“I know, but there has been a situation and it is no longer safe for you to-”

Rachel stopped paying attention to the man’s words when she noticed the guy from earlier walk up from behind the man. Her heart sped up when she noticed him reach into his pocket.

“Is that a knife?!” she yelped, instants too late.

The masked man wrapped one arm around the announcer’s middle, holding him still so he could cleanly slice his victim’s throat open. The party seemed to be holding their collective breath as the masked man released the announcer and pulled off his mask.

Rachel felt all her thoughts squeal to a stop.

No eyelids. Burned white skin. A Glasgow smile to make the Joker jealous.

Fuck. She knew this one.

Jeff the Killer leaned over to the microphone, and said calmly, “Start running.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The gore and corpse warnings come into effect here. Also, beware vomiting.

Rachel grabbed Harriet’s hand tightly and took off. She memorized the route to the exit. She would get out, Harriet would get out, they would both escape this alive-!

The partygoers began rioting around them. Everyone seemed to have a similar idea as Rachel: get to the surface, get away from the maniac who had apparently dove right back into the crowd after he finished speaking.

The crowd around them surged and tried to tear Rachel away from Harriet, but they had a death grip on each other. This became a problem when they were forced off the path Rachel knew by the flow of people. There wasn’t any fighting it. Rachel clutched Harriet’s hand tighter and continued running. It was better to get lost and further away from Jeff than stand still and wait for him to come to them.

By the time they’d run far enough from the party for them to stop running, Rachel was out of breath and Harriet was gasping like a fish out of water.

“How - how - are - we - getting - out?” Harriet managed to ask.

Rachel looked around. She didn’t know where they were. It had been sheer luck that she still had her headlamp on. How were they going to get out?

Rachel pulled out her phone. No service. They were too deep underground. The party was a secret. No one knew where they were. This was just getting worse and worse the more she thought about it. What could they… a ladder. There were exits all over the sewers, they just had to find one and avoid being found by the serial killer stalking the sewers too.

“Get up as soon as you can,” she told Harriet, “we’re going to find another way out of here, alright?”

“But… Jeff…?” Harriet asked uncertainly.

“There are a lot of people in these sewers, and it’s a big complex. We’ll be fine, as long as we don’t draw attention to ourselves,” Rachel reassured her.

That was vaguely true. From what she remembered, Jeff liked to play with his victims, so as long as his attention was focused somewhere else, they would be okay. Probably.

Harriet got to her feet and took a deep breath.

“Let’s go.”

Rachel nodded and started walking briskly down the path. She could hear other people running around, and occasionally a scream would echo from somewhere, but she ignored all of it. Her and Harriet’s safety came first. Playing hero against an immortal psychopath would just get them killed too.

They were coming up on a four-way junction when someone ran across Rachel’s field of vision. On reflex, she hit the light on her head to turn it off. Without the light, the tunnel was pitch black. All she could hear was the other person’s retreating footsteps and Harriet’s quiet breathing. Rachel was holding her breath.

They remained where they were, frozen, until a good five minutes had passed. Rachel carefully reached up and turned her light back on.

Nothing. Maybe the person had just been running. Or maybe the one chasing them had gotten distracted. It didn’t matter. They had to keep moving.

“Rachel, we need to turn here,” Harriet said softly.

Rachel looked back at her friend. Harriet was frowning at what may have once been a sign, although it currently looked more like a slightly darker blotch on the concrete walls.

“Do you know what that says?” she asked uncertainly.

Harriet shook her head, and whispered, “These always point toward maintenance. Maintenance always has a map. We can use that to find the fastest way out.”

Rachel nodded, letting Harriet take the lead. Why she didn’t have her light out, Rachel wasn’t sure. Maybe to conserve battery? Hopefully they wouldn’t be down here long enough for that to be an issue.

Another scream, faint and echoed to the point of near inaudibility. Far off, probably, which was a good thing. Rachel glanced behind herself only to look back forward when Harriet hissed at her. Right, she had their light attached to her head.

They walked until another turn, a T-junction, came into view. Rachel followed Harriet with her light, letting her find the next sign that, once again, barely looked like a sign. Rachel sincerely hoped Harriet was right, and that they were actually following them correctly.

“Do you think we could get a signal on our phones in the maintenance area?” Harriet asked, although her tone said she probably already knew the answer.

“Probably not until we reach the surface, or close enough to it,” Rachel said.

“Figures.”

They walked in silence after that. Even the screams had faded away, although that wasn’t comforting. Then again, maybe enough people had gotten out that Jeff had left too? Rachel had only really paid attention to the “how to survive” sections of the lessons on the Creeps, not the short bios that came with them, but she was fairly certain Jeff’s attention span was as short as his hair-trigger temper.

But what did she know? Assumptions got people killed.

Harriet had just turned another corner when she froze. On instinct, Rachel switched off her light.

“...It’s okay. I-it… it’s not Jeff."

Rachel hesitantly turned her light on again and walked up next to her friend.

There was a body in the tunnel.

Rachel looked down just enough to see the trail of blood leading toward them before she redirected her eyes to the body itself. It was a girl laying with her back to them, showing long blonde hair and pale skin. Rachel didn’t need to get any closer to tell she had been savaged.

“...At least we know he left a while ago,” Rachel said, trying to make the sight even a little bit more positive. It didn’t work, even for her. Bile was doing its best to surge up her throat.

Harriet didn’t say anything. She just nodded as tremors shook her legs and arms. Then she began walking toward the body, only saying in a shaking voice, “This way.”

Rachel followed only far enough to see what the corpse’s front looked like before it became too much and she had to spin around and heave up the contents of her stomach. The girl had been disemboweled, her inner organs spilling out in chunks. Her face hadn’t escaped the attack either. Most of it was missing, and it looked like Jeff had tried his hand at a Colombian Necktie and hadn’t actually known what he was doing.

“Rachel, come on, we need to go,” Harriet said, grabbing Rachel’s arm and tugging on it.

Rachel spat the remaining bile out of her mouth and hurried ahead of Harriet, forcing herself to not look at the teenager’s corpse. Harriet caught up and gently slipped her hand into Rachel’s and squeezed. Rachel squeezed back, but didn’t look at her.


	4. Chapter 4

“Do you think we missed it?” Harriet asked suddenly, looking at Rachel instead of the sign that Rachel could actually read this time.

“No,” Rachel assured her, “We’re probably getting close. And these areas aren’t built everywhere. The signs are pointing us along, don’t worry about it.”

According to Rachel’s phone, they had been in the sewers, party included, for a little over an hour. Outside of the dead teenager, they hadn’t encountered any other victims… or survivors. Rachel’s running theory was that they had headed away from literally everyone else. Or maybe the sewers were really that extensive.

Of course, she reminded herself, they weren’t really in the sewers explicitly. They were a little ways below them, in the overflow tunnels used to handle the nearby rivers’ floods by either dumping them much further downstream or just storing the water for a drought. It was just as much a maze as the actual sewers, but much drier and much more spacious. If need be, these tunnels could be sealed and act as a holding tank for most of the town in case something really big showed up.

Rachel had learned all of this over several minutes, listening to Harriet ramble nervously about all the reasons there might not be a maintenance room they could reach. Rachel had pointed out the signs as proof that there was, and didn’t ask how Harriet knew all of this. That had more or less ended Harriet’s out-loud thoughts.

“Rachel, what if we-” Harriet’s whispers were cut off by a gasp.

Rachel gasped too, unable to keep from smiling.

“I told you,” she said, triumphant but unwilling to raise her voice much.

In the wall not far from where they were standing was a solid steel door that looked like it had been waterproofed to hell and back. Rachel walked up to it and grabbed the handle. The door protested, but opened slowly anyway. Harriet yanked against the door too, and what had been a loud grinding noise turned into an ear-piercing squeal.

Rachel followed Harriet inside and together they drug the door shut behind them. The maintenance area had another door, Rachel noticed. The other door probably just led to a closet. The room was also a lot bigger and brighter than she expected. Rachel ignored it and turned off her head lamp.

The area was full of tools and shelves, and sure enough, there was a map plastered over the wall to her left. Rachel walked over to examine it.

The closest way out was through the first door, and looked to be almost a straight shot, with one gentle turn. She noticed there was another closed-off area that was also vaguely close by, though to easily reach it they’d have to go through the second door (so, not a closet). It was labeled as “SEAL CONTROL ROOM”.

“Hey, I found flashlights!” Harriet whisper-yelled.

Rachel turned around to see Harriet holding a pair of long, thick metal flashlights that looked like they could also be used as weapons if need be. Rachel took one and examined it.

Definitely made to be a makeshift weapon.

“There’s a gun over there too,” Harriet said, suddenly fascinated by her flashlight, “but I don’t know how to use it.”

Rachel nodded slowly.

“Me neither. And I think shooting off a gun in an enclosed space like this is just asking to get hit by ricochet.”

Both girls jumped when the second door suddenly began groaning. They twisted to look at it in terror as it opened just enough for them to see the person trying to get inside.

It wasn’t another survivor.

“Told ya we could meet up later,” Jeff hissed maliciously, although the effect was slightly ruined by the door opening at about the pace of a determined snail.

“SHIT!” Harriet screamed, then turned and slammed her whole body against the other door. Rachel joined her, and between the two of them, they were able to force it open and get out before Jeff could open his enough to get in.

They both charged down the tunnel, flipping their flashlights on. Rachel heard a snarled “The FUCK is with these doors?!” and forced herself to run faster, dragging Harriet behind her.

A third set of pounding footsteps joined their frantic ones. Rachel felt Harriet begin speeding up too. They could make it. If they got to the exit they would be fine. They had a head start, he wouldn’t catch up, they’d be fine, if they got up they would get help, they just had to make it to the ladder!

The psychotic killer behind them was laughing. Who cared? He was probably always laughing. He had a permanent smile, of course he was laughing!

Rachel’s legs were burning. She forced herself to ignore it. The bend was ahead of them. The floor, she suddenly registered, was soaked and slick. They rounded the bend, Harriet only staying upright with Rachel’s support, and continued their desperate sprint.

Jeff obviously wasn’t as lucky, if the squeak of rubber, crack of a skull on stone, and string of profanities was any indication. Rachel almost wanted to giggle.

The ladder was ahead of them. Rachel all but threw Harriet onto it and quickly followed her up. They scrambled higher and higher, Harriet slamming her shoulder into the manhole cover with a grunt. Rachel joined her in her efforts, gasping when the metal refused to budge. Laughter echoed up after them.

Rachel looked down, expecting to see Jeff the Killer climbing up toward them… but he wasn’t. He was standing at the base of the ladder, leaning against the wall it stood on, and watching them.

What the hell?

She redoubled her efforts to open the exit. Why wasn’t the cover moving?!

Rachel’s phone buzzed. She stopped shoving to pull it out right as she received another notification.

“Code Foxtrot. The sewers have been sealed to keep the threat from the general population.”

Below it: “Code Red. Jeff the Killer has been sighted within city limits. Lock all doors and windows and do not answer the door for anyone until the alert has been called off.”

Oh no.

Rachel began shaking. They had sealed the sewers off. They had seen Jeff go into the sewers and had locked them off. Nothing short of the Hulk was going to be able to lift the manhole covers, not for another week. They were… they had…

Jeff began cackling louder, apparently seeing Rachel’s expression.

“Rachel?” Harriet whispered. From her voice, Rachel knew she had seen the alerts too.

They were trapped.

“So, are you going to come down from there, or do you really want to hang until you fall?” Jeff called up to them. Rachel looked around Harriet at the killer.

He was toying with his knife, watching them with his creepy, unblinking eyes. Rachel considered asking him why he didn’t just come up there and get them himself if he wanted them so badly, but quickly decided that might just antagonize him to call her bluff.

“I know you’re not getting out that way. Come down, and I promise I’ll be quick about it.”

Rachel looked at Harriet, who minutely shook her head. Well, of course she wasn’t going to take him up on his offer, but she had been hoping Harriet might have thought of something.

She looked back down at the killer, who seemed to have no intention of leaving any time soon. His smile widened when they made eye contact. Rachel quickly looked away.

Harriet shifted her grip. Rachel looked at her, and saw her carefully mouth the words distract him. Rachel looked back at Jeff. He tilted his head a bit.

“I’m not going to stick to my offer forever. Get down from there now, and I’ll even try to make it less painful.”

“Why don’t you come up here and get us, huh?” Rachel challenged. Her grip shook. This was a dumb idea.

Jeff snorted and growled, “Why should I waste my fucking energy? You can’t stay up there forever. Probably not more than half an hour. All I need to do is wait.”

“I bet I can stay up here an hour,” Rachel retorted. Probably longer, if she were honest, but bragging might upset the killer.

From the look Jeff was giving her, if he had eyebrows he’d be quirking them. He opened his mouth to say something, but he didn’t get the chance.

Rachel had thought taunting Jeff the Killer was a bad idea. Harriet had an even worse one. She had managed to position herself so that when she flung herself off the 15 foot ladder, she plunged straight down over Jeff’s head.

There was a moment where Rachel and Jeff wore twin expressions of dawning horror. Harriet wasn’t extremely heavy, but the momentum of her drop and her own body mass made her a dangerous projectile. Jeff did manage to dive enough out of the way that Harriet missed his head and most of his torso, but he didn’t save his legs. Harriet hit them with a dull crunch, something that would have definitely broken his shins were he human.

Rachel hesitated, then jumped off the ladder too, landing with a bolt of pain up her ankle. She bit down on a shriek and shoved herself to her feet, only to collapse again. Harriet was standing by then, and for a moment she and Rachel locked eyes.

Go, Harriet mouthed, before she turned to Jeff, who was also getting to his feet. Harriet pulled her headlamp out of her pocket and nailed him in the head with it, screeching, “Come on, you PUSSY, I’m down here now, or are you too pathetic to kill someone who might fight back?!?!”

Jeff roared as he lunged to his feet and took off after Harriet, Rachel forgotten.

Rachel waited until she could no longer hear either of them. Only then did she let the sobs that had been shaking her shoulders out. Harriet had lured a Red level killer after her so Rachel could have the chance to escape. She had… she had sacrificed her life for Rachel’s.

She sat there for a while, unable to do much besides cry softly, too scared of making noise and drawing the killer back to her. Harriet was dead. Her best friend was dead. Harriet had died to let Rachel escape, and here she was, crying on the ground like a baby.

Rachel clawed at her face, trying to stop the tears as the pain slowly brought her back to reality. She took deep breaths, then felt her anguish and terror melt into anger. If Harriet was going to die like this, then Rachel was going to make sure Jeff didn’t get to kill anyone else.

She examined her hurt ankle then got to her feet. It hurt like hell, but it probably wasn’t broken. It would do. She didn’t have too incredibly far to go anyway. Rachel grit her teeth, turned on her headlamp again, turned off her flashlight, and started walking past the ladder. She had a job to do.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: shock and corpses

Each step sent a bolt of pain through Rachel’s ankle, but she ignored it. She didn’t really want to go the long way around, but using the doors again would almost certainly attract Jeff’s attention, and that was the last thing she wanted.

She wasn’t going to die without doing this. Harriet deserved that at least.

Rachel sobbed softly, then bit down on her cheek to quiet it. She was in enough trouble with a hurt ankle. She couldn’t make extra noise.

There hadn’t been any sounds beyond her own breathing and footsteps since Harriet had… had… don’t think about it. Maybe Harriet had gotten away? They had been outpacing Jeff for a while back there…

False hope. Jeff was a Red level threat. Harriet was dead. Or wishing she was. Rachel needed to focus. She had to make it to the Seal Control Room. She could… not avenge Harriet, but at least make sure she didn’t… didn’t die in vain…

Rachel swiped at her face, smearing her tears instead of removing them. Where did everyone else even go? There had been so many people at the party… had they all just scattered? Was it fair of her to do this when so many other people could still be alive?

It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair to the possible other survivors, it wasn’t fair to Harriet, it wasn’t fair to Rachel, it wasn’t fair to anyone. It was necessary. If you could get rid of a killer at the cost of your own life you did it. It wasn’t fair. It was necessary.

Rachel repeated that to herself as she limped along. She was heading the right way, but she was still a long way from the control room. But she would make it. She had to. What was the likelihood of Jeff finding her three times?

That question felt like tempting fate. Rachel made herself walk a little faster.

Around a turn was another body. A boy this time, facing Rachel with a Glasgow Smile carved into his face and words carved into his chest. It had been a while since he died, she thought numbly, the blood was congealed enough that she couldn’t tell what the words were.

She walked past the body without looking at it again. Would Harriet look like that? Or would she look more like the girl they had found? Don’t think about it.

Rachel’s brain felt like it was doing slow circles in her head. Why? She had a twisted ankle, not a bleeding wound. Not… why did she feel so off? It didn’t matter. She had to keep moving.

Another turn into a long hallway. There, ahead of her, was the door to the maintenance area. She was getting closer. If the doors had just been quieter… would it have mattered? The sewers were locked off. Even if Jeff hadn’t heard the door, there was nowhere for them to go. They would have, at their absolute longest lived, died before the sewer reopened. Either due to infection from the water or from simple starvation.

Maybe this was better.

Rachel put a little too much weight on her hurt ankle and gasped, then shoved her fist into her mouth. No. No. Harriet was probably suffering worse, Rachel could manage to walk on a twisted ankle for… she had no idea how far the Seal Control Area was. It didn’t matter. She just had to reach it.

Rachel grimaced and dug her teeth deeper into her hand. It wasn’t all that far. She could do this. For Harriet. To spite Jeff, simply because he was a motherfucker and deserved to be flushed out like the shit he was. Rachel pulled her hand free of her mouth when copper hit her tongue. She had enough damage right now, she couldn’t go around hurting herself too.

There was another body ahead of her. Another boy, slit from his throat to his belly button with one hand outstretched like he had tried to grab onto something before he died. Maybe Rachel was being too optimistic when she thought about other survivors. Jeff was a Red level killer. That just made her more determined to reach her goal.

Harriet had always said that Rachel was too focused. She would get a thought into her head and just wouldn’t let go of it. It was Harriet’s justification for taking Rachel to so many parties. Making her “lighten up” instead of zeroing in on whatever had her attention.

Rachel put her hand back in her mouth to keep from wailing. Harriet was dead. She was dead, and Rachel was going to flush her corpse out of the sewers like garbage. Would their families even know what happened to them? They could assume, but the likelihood of all their bodies being found… how many would be stuck living with uncertainty because of what Rachel was going to do?

They would have to deal with it. She wasn’t going to let Jeff just wander the sewers until he got bored and left. Rachel took her hand back out of her mouth and rubbed at her eyes. She didn’t need blurry vision either.

There was a sign on the wall ahead of her, one that didn’t look like the ones leading to the maintenance area. She was heading in the right direction then. Good. Rachel ignored the streak of blood beneath it and continued walking.

It couldn’t be far now. Only two more turns, and she should be at the door. Rachel straightened her shoulders and gritted her teeth and forced herself to move faster. She could do this. She would do this. She knew where she was going, and Harriet had probably led Jeff so far off it would take him sprinting the entire time to even reach her. She was going to do this.

One more turn. She would survive. She’d be inside the control room and be just fine. She’d tell Harriet’s parents that their daughter died a hero, leading Rachel to a map and then luring a Red level killer away so Rachel could reach safety. They might not have a body but Rachel would give them absolution about their daughter’s fate.

There. Up ahead. Rachel bit down on her hand again as she forced herself to start running, ignoring the pain in her ankle. She was going to make it. She was going to do this.

The door was just as hard to move as the maintenance one was, but she managed. Rachel looked around the room hurriedly. On one wall, a map. On another, a control panel. She hurried over to it and read the labels. One caught her eye: “Reservoir Dump”. Perfect.

Rachel flicked the switch. A light on the panel lit up. She looked at it, and felt ice form in her veins. “ELECTRICAL FAULT”.

No. No. No no NO NO NO!!!

Rachel wanted to scream. This couldn’t be happening. What was she supposed to do now? This was the only way to empty these tunnels! It couldn’t- it couldn’t- she had to- something on the far end of the panel lit up. She looked at it, feeling her tears slide down her face.

Was that…?

There, on the wall, was a row of charging stations, and all of them held glowing hand-held navigators. She slowly walked over to them, grabbing the first one.

“MANUAL RESERVOIR DUMP” was listed at the top. In the middle was an arrow icon, surrounded by solid line guides, and a dotted line that appeared to be marking a path.

She could still do this. Rachel couldn’t help but giggle shakily. She might still be able to get out of this, to stop Jeff. To avenge Harriet. Rachel shook her head to clear it, and walked back toward the door, not bothering to shut it after she squeezed out.

She could still do this. She could still do this.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: bodies, graphic injuries, assault

Rachel checked her phone. According to its clock, she had been beneath the town for almost two and a half hours now. Most of that had been with Harriet. The rest had gone into her trek towards the manual control hatch. She had passed three more bodies, and even saw a hand that had apparently been carried away from its owner, and she could no longer bring herself to care.

The constant throb of her ankle was the only thing really keeping Rachel grounded in reality. She had been walking for so long, hearing nothing but her own breathing and footsteps, that she almost suspected she wasn’t actually moving. The navigator said she was, but why should she trust it?

The distance counter she had managed to turn on through sheer luck told her she still had a ways to go. That wasn’t ideal. But she couldn’t do anything about it but keep walking. If she stopped, she would be giving Jeff a chance to find her. And she wasn’t going to risk that. He had already found her twice. Did the first time count? He was probably just walking up to people who seemed likely to follow him far enough away that he could kill them in peace.

Kill them in peace. What kind of a phrase was that?

Rachel would have shaken her head to try and clear it, but her head had begun hurting in time with her ankle about three turns back, and she was disoriented enough. What was wrong with her? All she had was a (probably) twisted ankle and the trauma of watching her best friend literally run into the darkness with death hot on her heels.

Rachel considered her thoughts, then mentally shrugged. She could be concerned when she reached the manual override. Right now, this… what was this? She had a term from a psychology class that fit, didn’t she? Shock. Yeah. The shock was helping her stay focused. She wasn’t going to get anything done if she collapsed in a tunnel, sobbing wildly.

There was another body. Rachel realized this when her foot hit it and she looked up from the glowing screen of her navigator. A girl, Japanese and, surprise surprise, disemboweled. Jeff needed to up his creativity, Rachel thought a bit hysterically, before she carefully walked around the girl and bit into her hand again. She had to focus. She had to focus.

Why were there so many bodies on this route? Had Jeff just chased the biggest group he saw until he ran out of easy victims? How many were… how many…

Rachel bit down harder on her hand. Focus. Panic later. Mourn later. There was no time for it now. She had to do this. The counter was steadily going down. She had to get this done.

Rachel paused by an intersection. Her map had zoomed out to show that her destination was a straight shot to the left. Still a long distance, but she didn’t have to make any more turns. She could do this. Just one foot in front of the other. Mostly. She was limping on her bad one. Whatever. She could do this.

She didn’t get far before she noticed something sparking against the wall to her right. It was a cable box that had been sliced open with what she guessed was a knife. So Jeff had tried to keep people from doing exactly what she planned to. Unfortunately for him, a manual hand wheel was a lot harder to fuck up than an electrical box.

Rachel bit into her hand enough that she could taste her own blood dripping onto her tongue. He couldn’t have ruined the crank. It was probably heavy duty steel. Nothing short of a professional with a tool box could break that.

Right?

Right. Obviously. She had to keep going. She… really ought to stop tearing open her hand. Rachel pulled her hand free of her teeth and looked back down the tunnel. There was still no noise.

Would the door be as loud as the others? Probably. But she didn’t need to hide for long. Just long enough for the tunnels to flood. That would take… who knew. Probably not long. Maybe. Would the water even reach all the tunnels? It should, right?

Rachel twitched her head, wincing when it aggravated her headache even more. Did it matter? If something went wrong, it wouldn’t really be her problem anymore. If it went right, she’d have given Harriet’s death meaning.

Rachel’s teeth went back into her hand.

Don’t think about it. Focus. Deal with it later.

The numbers on her distance counter dropped. Her other foot was starting to really hurt now. She’d been on it too long. It would just have to deal, because she wasn’t going to stop. She was so close now. She could do this. She would do this.

Rachel had almost slipped back into her state of disconnection from reality when she saw it. The door. She looked at her navigator. Right there. She made it. It was right there. Rachel dropped her navigator and moved as fast as she dared, holding back tears as she grabbed the handle and yanked backyards.

The door squealed open. Rachel slipped inside and saw it. The manual release. A large red wheel that she would have to turn. She could do that.

Rachel rushed over to it and braced herself, slowly, slowly, turning the wheel. When it wouldn’t turn any further, she started laughing and slid down onto the ground. She did it. She made it. She…

She ought to close the door if she didn’t want to get flooded too.

Rachel looked up from the ground just as the door opened a little bit more. Horror made all her muscles freeze up. Jeff smirked in at her, opening the door enough that he could lean comfortably on the frame.

“You move pretty fast for someone with a fucked up leg,” he said conversationally, pointing lazily at her with his knife.

Rachel shook. No. No. If he was inside her plan wouldn’t work. He needed to be out, he needed to be OUT, he had to be- he had to- SHE had to-

Rachel shoved herself to her feet. Anger blocked the pain her ankle was transmitting. Jeff tilted his head in that same fucking motion had used when he cornered her and Harriet on the ladder.

This fucker thought he could terrorize her, kill her friend, kill HER, and just walk away from it?

No.

Hell no.

Rachel bared her teeth and bent forward slightly. This psycho was going to meet the water outside whether he liked it or not. Whether it killed her or not.

Jeff seemed to be taunting her, not moving from his position. With a scream of rage, Rachel charged forward. She slammed shoulder-first into Jeff’s midsection, succeeding in knocking him out of the room and back into the tunnels.

Jeff didn’t seem bothered by it. He swung his knife down and stabbed it deep into her shoulder, withdrawing it to shove her away from him. The killer cackled as she staggered back, sobbing in pain.

“Braver than I gave you credit for,” he growled, “though not nearly as smart. Guess your squealy friend really was the brains of the operation, not that it’s saying much.”

“Don’t you fucking talk about Harriet,” Rachel spat, collapsing to one knee as her ankle finally gave out.

She could barely see through her tears. Jeff took a step toward her, and Rachel bit down on a whimper. She could do this. She could do this. She could keep him in the tunnels. She could give Harriet’s sacrifice meaning. She could do this.

A rumbling roar cut off whatever Jeff may have been intending to say. Rachel saw him look down the tunnel, then to the control room, then back down at her.

“You crazy sonova-” he started to snarl.

Then the water hit. To Rachel, it felt like a cement wall, knocking the breath from her lungs and sending her flying. The water was far too strong, far too fast for her to fight, so she didn’t. She tumbled and rolled and did her best to impersonate a ragdoll until the current slammed her head against something hard.

Everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be an epilogue, so stay tuned if you're interested!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: graphic description of injury, a concussion, and probably a suspension of disbelief.

Rachel woke up. That was… unexpected. Hadn’t she died?

Her eyes slowly opened. Around her, she could see mud and trees. She was on her stomach, her head turned to its side. Rachel slowly raised her head up, and looked around.

She was on a floodplain. The floodplain the town drained excess water to. She… had been washed out…?

Rachel looked down at herself. Her body was covered in mud. And, by the looks of it, her leg was now officially broken. Her shin wasn’t supposed to have bone sticking out through the skin, she was sure. On the other hand, she noticed, her shoulder seemed to have stopped bleeding. Maybe. It was covered in mud too, so maybe the damage was just hidden.

Her head felt full of cotton. Maybe if she took a nap…?

No, no, she knew this, if you hit your head, don’t fall asleep, or you might not wake up.

Don’t fall asleep…

Wasn’t that something Jeff said? No, he said something else.

Wait.

Where was the killer?

Rachel looked around, but only really saw more mud that occasionally was shaped like a person. No sign of any other living thing. He must have left. Had no one else survived his attack? Or had she… had she killed…?

Rachel closed her eyes. No. No. Not yet. She… she needed to go home. Where was home? How was she supposed to get there with a broken leg? Could she call someone? No, that was stupid, she had basically just put her phone through a washer. If she wanted to go anywhere, she’d have to walk.

That was… going to be a problem, she knew, even with her brain as muddled as it was. She couldn’t walk on her leg. Could she even move it?

A quick test and a blinding flash of pain said yes, she could still move her leg, but no, it wasn’t a good idea. She wasn’t going anywhere on it.

Rachel looked down and started laughing. It was slow at first, but then it graduated into a full on hysterical laugh that fell into sobbing not long after. She had survived Jeff the Killer, flooded him out of the sewers, even survived being tossed through the overflow pipes somehow, and now she was going to die probably because of hypothermia.

Assuming, of course, the blood loss from her leg didn’t get her first.

Rachel clenched mud into her hands, feeling it ooze between her fingers only up at the top. She couldn’t feel the lower portions. That… wasn’t good.

A low rumble made her look up. What was that? Was it thunder? No, thunder didn’t last this long… what was…

A truck pulled into view. Rachel stared at it uncomprehendingly as it stopped and people began jumping out of it, running toward her. She stared at them as they gathered around her, talking to each other. They all sounded so far away…

Something was stuck into her arm, although Rachel couldn’t feel it. She frowned unhappily at the person who did it, managing to almost hear a question they asked.

“I flooded the tunnels,” she told them, “I don’t know where Jeff went… I hope I got him out…”

Someone slid their arms under hers, lifting her up as someone else grabbed her legs to help. The expected pain shot through her brain, but it felt… numbed, interestingly enough. It was nice.

Someone was talking again. Rachel couldn’t understand them, though, and opted to just lay where she had been moved. Was she on a… what was it… rolling bed…? No, a stretcher! She was on a stretcher! Had… was she being saved?

A face came into view. She didn’t recognize it. It smiled sadly at her, and said something in a friendly tone. She’d take that. Rachel relaxed. She’d made it out of the sewers alive. She was going home. She made it.

“I made it Harriet,” Rachel said to the sky above her, “I made it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE! She lives! There is a reason for it.
> 
> Rachel will return... assuming I actually write out what I've got planned... but her story won't be the only one in the series!


End file.
